Come What May
by lostworldlady
Summary: Roxton has to go on a quest to save Marguerite.


COME WHAT MAY  
  
"Marguerite, there's something I need to talk to you about." Lord John Roxton was trying to get the heiress's attention as she was cleaning up the dishes from breakfast.  
Sighing, she finally gave him her full attention, "What do you want?"  
"There's something I need to tell you about that's been on my mind for awhile now. Can we go for a walk?" Roxton asked her, almost pleadingly.  
"Just let me grab my hat." Marguerite answered.  
As they exited the treehouse, Roxton steered them towards Challenger's windmill. They had just crossed the meadow and had settled down in the grass when Roxton began talking. "Now before you interrupt, let me get everything said that I need to say. Please?" He was practically begging her.  
Marguerite hastily agreed, seeing the worried excitement on Roxton's face. "Okay, I promise."  
He took a deep breath and continued, "Marguerite, this is going to sound rash but I'm telling you the truth." He paused and Marguerite held her breath. "I love you. There, I've said it. Now it's out in the open, finally." He stood up shakily. He couldn't even look at her.  
Marguerite moved to reassure him. "I love you too John." She whispered into his ear. They embraced and were so absorbed with each other that they didn't hear someone sneaking up on them.  
A large and nasty looking man suddenly jumped out from behind a tree and walked towards them menacing a gun. "Alright lovebirds, time for your first stroll together. Let's go, move it." He made towards them and saw that the man was moving to stand and protect the woman. "Move any more and I'll kill her." The man instantly stopped moving.  
"Who are you? And what do you want?" Roxton asked.  
"I'm Axel and I want you to come with me." He answered. And again he menaced them with his gun. "This way. And don't try anything funny, because I won't hesitate to shoot her."  
Marguerite and Roxton walked ahead of Axel for what seemed like forever. Finally they sighted a village and as Axel led them through it, they noticed that there weren't very many people there. "What is this place?" Marguerite whispered to Roxton. "I have no idea, but we'd better do as he says." Roxton replied.  
"Hey, are you two plotting already?" Axel gave them a nasty smile. "I don't think so. And in answer to your question, this is my village and we need two more slaves, I mean workers, to help mine rocks for us." He chuckled.  
Marguerite looked at Roxton out of the corner of her eye; she nodded ever so slightly to him. He acknowledged her with a small wink.  
The next moment was pure chaos. Roxton turned and used his elbow to slam Axel in the nose. Momentarily stunned, he let the rope that was binding them drop to the ground. They were free! They quickly began to run for the jungle, making slow progress because of being tied together.  
Axel regained himself quickly though. "Stop or I'll shoot!" He cried.  
Both Roxton and Marguerite halted in their tracks. They slowly turned to face their captor. "Why are you doing this to us?" Marguerite asked.  
"Because I like you sweetheart." Axel grinned. By now he had come closer to them, though not too close because his nose was still smarting from Roxton's blow. Marguerite and Roxton stood side by side, facing him defiantly. "And since I do like you honey, I'm going to spare you and take your friend as an example instead."  
He raised his gun and aimed it at Roxton's chest, "Sorry tootes, but you have to learn that I'm the boss."  
The next moment went by as if in slow motion. Axel fired his gun and before she knew what she was doing, Marguerite had jumped in front of Roxton. The bullet slammed through her chest and she crumpled to the ground, bleeding and barely conscious. She had taken the bullet meant for Roxton and he barely had enough time to catch her before she hit the ground. Tears sprang into his eyes as he watched Marguerite's lifeblood drain through his fingers. "No, please no." He whispered, cradling her head in his lap. "Stay with me, don't leave me."  
Marguerite looked up into his eyes and whispered back to him, "Don't worry, I'll always be with you. And come what may, I love you." With that her last breath left her body and she was gone.  
Roxton cradled her body a while longer and then the anger overcame him. He jumped up and headed towards Axel. The other man was taken completely off guard and was not ready for the angered hunter's attack. Roxton knocked the gun away and then reached for Axel with his hands still bound. He grabbed Axel's throat and began to squeeze. Axel struggled in shock and then in horror as the situation dawned on him; he would soon be joining Marguerite in the afterlife. Axel almost lost consciousness when the hand holding him suddenly loosened. He fell to the ground, gasping for breath. The reason for this sudden mercy was the fact that Challenger, Malone and Veronica had shown up to his rescue.  
They rushed towards Roxton and cut the remains of the rope away from him before hurrying towards Marguerite's still form. Challenger took her pulse and then looked up at the rest of them apologetically. "I'm sorry, but she's gone. There's nothing we can do. Let's take her home."  
All four of them walked back to the treehouse in silence. Veronica led the way as Malone and Challenger carried Marguerite with Roxton following behind them. Things were never going to be the same without the feisty heiress. It was several days later when Roxton could be found dozing in a chair near the balcony. He was almost asleep when he heard someone call his name. Sitting up he called out, "What?" Getting no answer he sought out his comrades. No one had called him. Returning to his chair, he shrugged it off as his tiredness. The past few days had dragged out for him and at night he never slept. He tried to doze again and again he distinctly heard his name being called. This time, instead of calling to his friends he spoke to the voice, "Who's there? What do you want?" A wispy voice answered him. The voice sounded like it was far away and that it was struggling to remain there with him. "Help me John." It whispered. Roxton could never mistake that voice; it was Marguerite's! But how was this possible? She was dead! Shrugging off that question for later, Roxton knew that stranger things had happened to them on the plateau. "Help you? How? Marguerite I miss you so much!" Roxton was standing now, pacing around the living room with his arms spread wide. "Find a way. My soul has not passed on yet and I will remain in this state unless you help me." Came her reply. "In what state?" Roxton asked. "Turn around, but please don't be afraid." Marguerite answered. Roxton did as he was told and almost cried out. A vision of Marguerite had appeared in front of him. She was transparent and was an odd bluish color as she floated several feet above the treehouse floor. "Where do I even start?" He walked towards her. "In a cave past the Zanga village is a stone that will release me. Please hurry. This may be my one chance to regain the life that was stolen from me." She was growing faint. "Don't leave yet! I can't stand being without you!" Roxton pleaded. "I have no more energy now, I have to go. Remember that I love you John, come what may." Marguerite said as her ghost slowly faded before his eyes. Roxton was completely bewildered now that he was alone again. Finally coming out of his trance-like state he raced towards Challenger's lab to summon the others. Once they were all gathered together in the treehouse's dining room area, Roxton explained what had just happened to him. "She's a ghost? But that's physically impossible!" Challenger said. "It may sound impossible but I saw her George, I swear I did! And she needs our help!" Roxton was excited now at the prospect of getting his Marguerite back. "Maybe it was just a wishful thinking hallucination." Malone offered. "You haven't been yourself lately Roxton, but in time you will learn to live without her." Veronica's voice was soft-spoken but filled with remorse. "I can't believe this! You're her friends, her family and you're just giving up on her like this? Well I'm not! She was desperate when she came to me asking for help and I think that there may be a chance to bring her back. And if no one's going to help me then I can do it by myself!" Roxton shouted angrily as he grabbed his rifle and hat and stormed out of the treehouse. Malone made to leave to follow him but Challenger motioned him to sit back down again, "He just needs some time alone." Roxton was so angry at his friends for apparently deserting Marguerite that he almost forgot where he was going. He quickly changed directions and headed towards the Zanga village. Upon reaching the native tribe's village he sought out the chief. Once he heard Roxton's story of grief he promptly told Roxton where he could fine the type of cave that he was looking for. Leaving the Zanga village as quickly as possible, Roxton headed in the direction of the cave. He soon found himself in front of two cave entrances that looked exactly alike. There were no distinguishing marks on them and Roxton sighed in frustration, time was running out! The Zanga chief had not mentioned that there would be two caves for him to choose from! Sighing again, Roxton sat down on the ground to think. After several moments of thinking, Roxton heard some noise from off to his right. An elderly man and woman slowly made their way to stand between the two cave entrances. The man was wearing a deep blue cloak and he had white hair that stuck out at odd angles and he was carrying a large walking stick. The woman was also wearing a cloak, but it was a deep red color. Her long white hair was braided and she carried a basket. They settled themselves in front of the cave entrances and stared at Roxton expectantly. He acknowledged them with a nod of his head. After several more minutes, he realized that they were not going to move so he decided to see if they could help him with his problem. The old man spoke first, "Before you can go any further with your quest, you must choose a path. To do that you may ask one of us a question." Then the old woman spoke up, "But one of us always lies." "And the other one always tells the truth." The old man added. "But you may ask only one of us one question. " The old woman finished. Roxton was completely lost at this, riddles were Malone's thing not his. He had no idea how to solve this and he was still running short on time! He began pacing back and forth, mumbling to himself, "One lies and one tells the truth, but which one?" Finally deciding on his answer, he stopped pacing and faced the old couple. "Alright, I think I've got it. At least I hope I've got it!" He approached the old man, "Which cave would she say I should go in to continue my quest?" After several moments of silence the old man answered, "The cave on the left." Roxton smiled, "Then it's the cave on the right! Because if you were lying then it would be the cave on the right. And if you were telling the truth, then I know that she would be lying instead so it's still the cave on the right." The old woman smiled, "You have made your choice, proceed."  
  
Smiling broadly at his sudden cleverness, Roxton walked through the right cave's entrance and into solid darkness. Reaching around to his pack for flint and steel, he quickly made a torch and proceeded down the dark and musty smelling passageway. After walking a few more steps he heard a strange sound coming from the walls. Knowing from past experiences that some caves had booby traps, he jumped backward almost at the same instant as a large ax swung out horizontally in front of him. It swung right over the spot where he had just been standing. Others popped out along the entire passageway, blocking his progress. Watching the axes for a moment, Roxton figured out the timing and jumped high into the air. Landing lightly on top of one of the axes, he balanced precariously as he waited for the right moment to jump onto the next ax- head. Slowly, but surely Roxton progressed down the ax-ridden walkway. Finally he was able to jump free of the dangerous pendulums and he leaned against the cave wall to catch his breath. "And I thought this was going to be easy!" He said out loud. After his brief pause, Roxton sighed as he gathered himself for his next challenge. Continuing down the silent and dark passageway, he waited for the next threat to appear. As if in answer to his curiosity, a low rumbling came from somewhere behind him. Dreading what he thought he knew was coming; Roxton began to run down the passageway. Sure enough, coming behind him at an alarming speed was a huge boulder that blocked the entire passage so that there was no chance to dodge around it. Roxton had to continue forward or risk being crushed by the gigantic rock. Racing down corridor after corridor, Roxton frantically looked for a way out of the boulders path. Giving up on that escape plan, he plunged onward. He had just turned a sharp corner when he realized that the path he had been following ended at a cliff's edge that overlooked a pit full of lava. Thinking quickly, he realized that his only option was to make a daring leap and hope that he made it to the other side of the canyon. Since he had no other choice, Roxton took a deep breath and jumped. Luckily, he had judged correctly and he landed in a heap on the other side. He clambered up to safety and sat down to regain his breath and to settle his nerves. Pausing only for a short time since he knew that time was limited if he wanted to save Marguerite, he got to his feet again shakily. Forcing his weary body on, Roxton dreaded what he would have to face next. But it remained in his mind that simple phrase that Marguerite had used her last breath to utter, 'Come What May' and these words played themselves over and over again in his mind. They drove him on in the hopes of being reunited with his lost love. Roxton had just turned yet another corner when he felt a sudden rush of air and his torch sputtered and then went out. Feeling another gust of air he continued on in the dark this time, his hands groping along the walls so that he wouldn't fall. Following the wind for what seemed like hours, Roxton suddenly felt the walls widen so that he couldn't touch both sides at the same time. Stopping in his tracks, he re-lit his torch and gazed at the sight before him. He now stood in what appeared to be a large circular room with a high ceiling that looked like it was made of glass. In the center of the room was a pedestal on which rested a large green emerald-looking stone. The room seemed to soak the light from his torch to illuminate itself so Roxton put it out when he could see clearly. Roxton slowly walked towards the emerald-like stone, afraid that something else would attack him. He reached the pedestal after what seemed like an eternity and, still apprehensive of danger, he snatched the stone from its resting-place and held his breath. But as soon as his fingers touched it, the emerald stone began to glow. At first faintly, but then it grew to an intensity that made Roxton have to shield his eyes from the brightness. Finally the light faded, and to his amazement and relief, Marguerite now stood before him. She looked weak, but she was smiling as she ran into his waiting embrace. After holding her for a few moments that seemed to end all to quickly, Roxton looked into her eyes. "I came for you." He smiled as tears began to appear in his eyes at having gotten her back. "And no matter what, come what may, I will always come for you."  
  
THE END 


End file.
